More Inspiration

Time to get ready for back to school! With the upcoming school year upon us, now is a great time to document the friends, interests, fads and activities in your children's lives, turning your scrapbook layouts into little time capsules. I used this "Senior Year" layout to showcase the special friendship between Alley and Emma so they'll be able to look back on this time in their lives for years to come, regardless of where each of their lives take them after their last year of high school.

About this Page
LeNae layered coordinating papers from Flea Market Fabrics sarapapers™ to create the background for this sophisticated layout. She added two simple matted photos to the page, one large 5"x7" photo and one smaller square photo. LeNae created a cool, customized border for the side of the page with a simple strip of paper, a few mini brads and distressed chipboard letters.

Patterned Paper Tip
What to do when you want a border on your layout? Make your own, of course! Borders are so easy to make, and you can create them however you'd like to showcase your own personality. They can be as simple or as detailed as you wish, from a simple strip of paper to one embellished with brads, ribbon, a page title–you name it. To create your page border, just cut a strip of paper or run a length of ribbon down either side or across the top or bottom of your layout. Then get creative! Try:

Adding a brad to each corner of the paper strip or each end of the ribbon

Wrapping ribbon around the border or attaching knotted ribbon or bows with Glue Dots™

Creating a page title out of chipboard letters, rub-ons, alphabet stickers or other alphabet embellishments

Adding a series of three silk flowers down the border, attaching them with brads in the center

The possibilities for customized, coordinating page borders truly are endless. Remember that there is no right or wrong way–just do what you like, have fun and let your personality shine through!

LeNae’s Tip of the Month

Shabby chic, vintage-style projects are very popular in scrapbooking nowadays. One of the key ingredients to a vintage-style page is distressing, but where do you get started? I used this "Senior Year" layout to feature two of the easiest ways for scrapbooking beginners to start distressing paper and embellishments.

First, inking. Inking the edges of your papers and photo mats gives them a well-worn look and allows the edges to stand out when layered on other papers. To ink the edge of your paper, just hold the ink pad in your dominant hand and hold the paper in your other hand. Tilt the ink pad on its side and touch the pad directly on the very edge of the paper. Move the ink pad along the edge of the paper to ink the entire edge. Start with a light touch first–you can always add more ink to make it darker.

Second, sanding. Sanding embellishments made of materials like metal and chipboard will give you an aged, scuffed look. To sand metal and chipboard, run fine-grade sandpaper or an emery board along the edges or the surface of the piece until you start to remove some of the color (for painted brads, you'll reveal the color of the metal underneath, for chipboard accents, you'll reveal the neutral color of the chipboard, etc.). Rub lightly in an up and down, side to side or circular motion, depending on the effect you want to achieve. And if you really want to have some fun experimenting, you can even sand the edges of your photos for the same scuffed look!

LeNae’s Steps to Making this Layout:

Use the rust floral paper as the background. Cut an 8 3/8"x9 1/4" piece of rust/blue woven paper and ink the edges brown. Glue the woven paper 1" from the top edge and even with the right edge of the page. Cut a 10 3/4"x7 1/4" piece of rust stripes paper with the stripes running vertically, then glue it even with the left edge of the page, centered between the top and bottom edges of the page (note, the rust stripes paper will overlap the rust/blue woven paper). Cut a 1 3/4"x12" strip of light blue textured paper and glue it down the page, 7/8" from the left edge. Add one antique mini brad to each corner of the light blue paper strip.

Mat a 7"x5" photo on ivory cardstock, trim the mat to 1/16" and ink the edges. Mat again on light blue textured paper, trim the mat to 1/8" and ink the edges. Glue the matted photo 5/8" from the right edge of the page, centered between the top and bottom edges of the rust striped paper piece from step 1. Use a black pen to write a photo caption on the rust floral label. Add an antique mini brad to each end of the label, then use foam tape to secure the label overlapping the bottom edge of the photo.

Mat a small photo (approximately 3" square) on ivory cardstock, trim the mat to 1/8" and ink the edges. Wrap a length of blue Dolcino ribbon around the bottom of the matted photo, knotting the tails together on the front of the photo. Glue the photo at an angle overlapping the bottom left corner of the larger photo.

Select chipboard letters to spell out the school year. Rub sandpaper or an emery board around the edges of the chipboard letters to distress them by removing some of the color. Use a black pen to write the word "year" on the small tan tag and punch a hole in the tab. Run a length of brown ladder ribbon through the hole, then loop the ribbon around the last chipboard letter and knot the tails together to attach the tag to the letter. Use Glue Dots™ to secure the letters running up the light blue strip on the left side of the page. Use foam tape to secure the "year" tag at an angle on the page.